How Much For Your Soul?

Chapter 59

"At the moment, you and your brother are entirely out of the race of succession, Gu Heng is locked in to win. Since you have no wish to stay in a Clan that will be aligned against you, I suggest taking as many resources from it as possible before cutting ties with a legitimate reason.

Slapping their face by publically denouncing the Clan is one thing, they might try to cut off your future paths of cultivation, but they will be restrained by the Sect rules. However, if you start a war and damage the Sect's strength, it will only end with you two dead and probably with the Sect's blessing."

"But how would we get revenge if all we can do is steal some resources and leave the Clan?" Asked Gu Bei in frustration, he wished to inflict as much destruction on the Gu Clan as possible. Gu Lan also nodded her head, her thoughts were similar to her brother.

"Simple, their only candidate for the next leader of their Clan, is a petty tyrant that would destroy a family member if it was for his own benefit. What's to say what such a man would do for his personal gain? Steal resources, poison rivals, attack elders? All you need is a scapegoat for your revenge!

You were poisoned by Gu Heng with a rare poison that prohibits cultivation if not treated. Although it is unique, it is not like it is so exotic that no one can cure it. This will be the catalyst for your separation from the Gu Clan. If everyone in opposition of Gu Heng suddenly comes down with the same illness as Gu Lan, I guarantee that a cure will be found within days! Then you can ask how they so quickly found a treatment when you have been waiting for three years.

However, you will need outside help that can not be traced back to you two. If the servant used to poison the Gu Clan members is linked to you, you will definitely be executed." Hua Ling outlined the plan for resources and revenge.

As Gu Lan and Gu Bei digested the plan to satisfy their lust for revenge and help them break away from such a shameless Clan, Shen Yue brought out new cups of tea for everyone. Of course, it was still unpoisoned. There was no need to rush things when the stakes for failure were so high. As he watched everyone drink their tea, he smiled unnoticed at his servant's post to the side. The Gu siblings were practically already his!

An hour later, a determined brother and sister left Hua Ling's courtyard. They had come to an agreement to work together to strike a blow against the Gu Clan and split the profits equally. What they didn't know was that Hua Ling was but a pawn and that it was also their fate to end up the same way. Gu Lan had agreed to hold off on her treatment so that it would not raise any eyebrows when half the Clan needed to be cured of the same 'disease'.

If Gu Lan showed signs of recovery when the rest of the Clan suddenly came down with the same illness, then it would be evident that she had lashed out in revenge. Finding a cure for the poison that crippled her life and dreams, was like a light at the end of a long dark tunnel. Now that she knew it was possible to be healed, what was another month or two to satiate her craving to see the perpetrator punished for ruining her life.

With everything set in motion, the rest of the week was spent 'recruiting' the Earthen Fate Realm experts that had recently joined the Skysoul Institue. Since it only happened every ten years, there was a massive influx of talent and now would be the best time to 'convince' them to join their faction. Shen Yue only had to start the ball rolling by marking officers, they would then have their own squad of 'recruits' that they would brand with enslavement seals.

Since he had received one thousand five hundred spiritual stones from Gu Bei, Shen Yue thought he would promote all his officers to the Heavenly Fate Realm. Even though he would love to use them himself, there were simply not enough to feed the bottomless pit that was his Soul Realm. Nie Li thought he had problems trying to fill the endless void to promote to the next rank, Shen Yue's was on another level.

So instead of sinking his limited resources into his own fruitless cultivation, he gave it to his men to improve his factions overall strength. It was a lot easier to 'recruit' Earthen Fate Realm students when you could subdue them with your Heavenly Fate Realm aura alone. With his men taking care of increasing his troops, Shen Yue spent most of his time creating customising cultivation techniques for his men. Not only would it economise their cultivation, but it would also speed it up.

Because they did not start their cultivation with these techniques, they did not receive any mindblowing new abilities. But a stable foundation for fewer resources and at a faster pace than everyone else was a significant step up to what they could otherwise obtain as a random fighter in another faction. This by itself would probably draw in new recruits in droves, the only problem was that Shen Yue could not advertise his abilities without huge problems or possibly death!

So the new students had their Soul Realms marked and then handed cultivation techniques that others would literally kill for. Of course, they never knew that they were enslaved and thought it was their choice to join 'Hua Ling's' faction and devote everything they had to it. It was just another day of work slaving away when Gu Bei dropped by to hand over a list of the servants, members and elders belonging to Gu Heng's opposition. Without his sister or any guards present, this was the best time to 'convince' him to join the team permanently.

As Gu Bei greeted Hua Ling like a friend, Shen Yue sneak attacked him with a blast of his aura. For a guy that had yet to reach the Heavenly Fate Realm, he went down like a lead balloon. It was funny to Shen Yue that all theses wealthy scions like Long Yuyin and Gu Bei had yet to break through into the Heavenly Fate Realm even though they had been groomed for cultivation since birth. It made him laugh how people from lower Realms were looked down upon, but here he was turning the rich kids into slaves to do his bidding.

Now he was laughing about slavery, yep, Shen Yue had definitely embraced the wuxia lifestyle! He chuckled to himself as he branded Gu Bei and then used his Library to create a technique that would help him become the next Sect leader more easily. Shen Yue didn't mess with Gu Bei's mind too much because the guy was already a pretty decent person besides his lascivious nature. He just toned down his more radical vengeful thoughts towards his Clan and enforced his gratitude and loyalty towards Hua Ling.

Shen Yue didn't want his name even known by people with influence, that's what Hua Ling and Gu Bei were for. If there were going to be any assassinations or schemes, they would be the targets, not some unknown low ranked cultivator. Even after the Divine Feathers Sect was entirely under his control, Shen Yue still didn't plan to come out of the shadows and into the spotlight. Not until he was at least a Deity level cultivator and could defend against all threats. Other than pride, there was no need to expose himself as the puppet master.

With the final piece under his control, there was no need to continue exposing himself. Even as Hua Ling's servant was too risky, he didn't want to be associated with the faction. It was time to sit back and watch as his minions continue to expand while he concentrated on other things. Like how he was going to empty out the Gu Clan's spiritual stones and poison half the Clan! To be honest, Shen Yue didn't really have anything against the Gu Clan, they were merely one of many powerful groups that dominated the Draconic Ruins.

Their actions against Gu Lan and Gu Bei were pretty much par for the course when it came to succession wars, there was no need for Shen Yue to get emotional over it. It just made it a whole lot easier for him when he stole as much as he could from them! Now that Gu Bei was under his control and considered an officer, he could enslave Gu Heng's servants himself. This would speed up the project immensely, as the plan had been to wait for them to leave the Gu Clan compound and somehow enslaving them unnoticed.

Now, Gu Bei only had to order them to taste his food or engineer a situation that would make it easy for him to incapacitate the servants so he could brand their Soul Realms, turning them into dedicated assassins. If they were ever captured or suspected, Gu Bei could make them shout out some incriminating words and then detonate their Soul Realm. Gu Heng was about to be in a world of shit!